Disney Plus original series American Born Chinese ,season one episode one entitled “What Guy Are You,” starts with Jimmy Liu’s Wei-Chen as he runs away from his father with his staff due to him having a different destiny than what his father wants. Thanks to the fantastic cinematography and choreography, the viewer is treated to a beautiful landscape chase scene as the fast movement mixed in with the bright red color is guaranteed to capture the viewer’s attention almost immediately. Also, with the introduction of Ben Wang’s Jin Wang clothes shopping with his mom, it creates a feeling of familiarity within the viewer as well. This is further demonstrated by how his mom wants him to dress a certain way and he wants to dress another way. This is something that everyone could relate to as at one point, everyone has had that experience before. In his mind, Jin knows that his mom is only doing what she thinks is best for him. However, he knows that her decision on his clothes will lead to ridicule at school. What is interesting about this is how it shows how life can be for a child born in America to immigrant parents. Obviously, his mom is more custom to a different culture in the way of clothes. She does not understand that the type of clothes she wants Jin to wear will set an unappealing reputation for him at school.
Additionally, the viewer sees how there is a difference between Jin and Wei-Chen as they meet and hang out. This is shown by how Wei-Chen speaks fluent Chinese while Jin says that his Chinese is not good. This is due to Jin being raised as an American and losing touch with his roots. Meanwhile, Wei is more in touch as he was raised in his world with his Chinese roots being important for his family. Another example would be how Jin’s friend “Justin Jarzombek’s Travis” is a jerk who likes to make fun of people, including Jin’s old friend, Mahi Alam’s Anuj. Wei-Chen decides to call him out for doing that as that is disrespectful. However, Jin lets it slide due to not wanting to be alienated. In Wei’s mind, he doesn’t understand why Jin would let his jerk of a friend make fun of his old friend. Where he comes from, being someone’s friend means that you should stand up for them when they need it. Deep down he feels that Jin is a good guy, it is only that he has some bad influences that he needs to break away from.
Towards the end of the episode, “in a sense of karma” Jin is the subject of ridicule regarding a video made about him during an inopportune moment. From the look on Jin’s face, he now knows how it feels to be made fun of just like his old friend. In his mind, he assumes that it was okay to be made fun of as long as it was not him. Now that the attention is on him, he no longer feels as if it is okay. The viewer can see that Jin has a bit of a hypocritical viewpoint when it comes to being made fun of. This shows that the series does a fantastic job at bringing to light certain topics that everyday people deal with in schools. Such as personal reputation, the meaning of friendship, and how the environment influences the way people act.
At the end of the episode, Wei comes face to face with his father as they have a fight for the staff he took. The interesting part about this is how his father only wants to protect his son and his home. This is something viewers can relate to as well. Wei fights for his independence from his father. In the end, there is no clear winner as they both fight for their ideals and never actually hurt one another. However, Wei is ultimately given the reason due to the interference from Michelle Yeoh’s Guanyin. From the way she appears out of nowhere the viewer can assume she is a goddess of some sort to Wei’s people. Which is why his father agrees with her decision to give Wei the benefit of the doubt. All in all, the episode gives a sneak peek of the great cast, compelling characters, and marvelously choreographed fight scenes that guarantee the viewer will want to keep watching for more.
Rating: 9.5/10